RUSH, William - b. 1756 Philadelphia, d. 1833 Philadelphia

American sculptor, active in his native Philadelphia. His father was a ship’s carpenter and Rush worked mainly in wood, progressing from ships’ figureheads to free-standing figures, such as the Nymph of the Schuylkill (1812), a work which almost perished through exposure to the elements in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, and was preserved only when it was belatedly cast in bronze. His work is vigorous and naturalistic and he marks the transition from the unselfconscious folk carver to the professional artist. He was one of the prime movers in the foundation of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which has many examples of his work. Thomas Eakins, another native of Philadelphia, greatly admired Rush’s work.

Bust of Benjamin Franklin

There was no sculptural tradition in the United States of America in the last decades of the eighteenth century. It is not surprising that the first significant commission - the monument to George Washington - was given to French artist, the sculptor Houdon. Local masters emerged from the American folk art of figurehead-carving and produced mainly wood sculptures.